Pushing the bigger iPad back to the same time as an iPhone launch makes a lot of sense, especially if both will run on the same A9 processor (as at least one rumor has suggested) or share other features. In fact, Apple hasn’t released an iPad this early in the year since the iPad 3 (“The New iPad”) launched in 2012. The fourth-generation iPad and both models of the iPad Air—as well as all iterations of the iPad mini—have been released near the end of the year.